HomeAway, Inc. AWAY has filed a lawsuit against the city and county
of San Francisco. The company seeks an injunction to prevent the city from
enforcing the recently passed short-term rental ordinance, which they believe
discriminates against second home owners and non-resident companies and
individuals.
AUSTIN, Texas and SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB -
HomeAway, Inc. AWAY, the world's leading online marketplace for
vacation rentals, filed a lawsuit today against the city and county of San
Francisco (3:14-cv-04859, United States District Court for the Northern
District of California). The company seeks an injunction to prevent the city
from enforcing the recently passed short-term rental ordinance (Ordinance No.
140381), which HomeAway claims discriminates against second home owners and
non-resident companies and non-resident individuals that advertise short-term
rentals, and effectively turns over control of short-term rentals to the San
Francisco-based company Airbnb.
"In a community known for promoting equality and an entrepreneurial spirit, it
is shocking the Supervisors passed a law that, in our opinion, stifles
opportunity in such a discriminatory manner," says Carl Shepherd, co-founder
of HomeAway. "In its apparently single-minded goal to 'legalize Airbnb', we
claim the Supervisors ignored the benefits of responsibly regulating a
well-established industry, and embraced an unconstitutional and unenforceable
regulation. As the industry leader, HomeAway feels a duty to fight for the
entire short-term rental industry and the rights of all property owners,
including the owners of the 1,200 San Francisco properties who advertise on
HomeAway."
HomeAway claims the ordinance violates the Constitution's interstate commerce
clause by requiring companies providing "Hosting Platforms," defined as "a
person or entity through which an Owner [or lessee] may offer a Residential
Unit" for short-term use, to conform to one specific business model, or face
legal penalties.
"Ultimately, this rule restricts consumer choice in both how to offer or find
a property and requires HomeAway and most of its competitors to overhaul their
businesses to comply with a regulation that is almost entirely unenforceable,"
says Shepherd.
HomeAway alleges the ordinance is also unconstitutional in that it allows only
San Francisco residents to rent on a short-term basis, banning individuals who
live in the city part-time from what is now otherwise a legal activity. While
the San Francisco Board of Supervisors maintains its goal is to "preserve
housing stock" and "reduce negative effects on affordable housing," there is
no evidence that shows prohibiting non-residents from having short-term
rentals has an impact on affordable housing.
"Our goal is to work with the city to amend the law to one that balances the
needs of the community with the rights of all people to rent their properties,
regardless of who they are, where they choose to live and how they choose to
market those properties," says Shepherd. "We expected any ordinance in San
Francisco would be thought-leading public policy, but instead it fails on all
counts resulting from a desire to anoint winners and losers, not to create
policies that are fair to all."
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